CINEMA ON THE VERGE

at DiverseWorks and Aurora Picture Show

Abigail Child

Abigail Child has been at the forefront of experimental writing and media since the 1980s, having completed more than thirty film/video works & installations and written 6 books. An acknowledged pioneer in montage, Child addresses the interplay between sound and image to make, in the words of LA Weekly, “brilliant exciting work…a vibrant political filmmaking that’s attentive to form.” Child’s work involves intimate collaborations with poets, including Monica de la Torre and Gary Sullivan, as well as with notable downtown composers, including John Zorn, Ikue Mori, and Christian Marclay.

Her films rewrite narrative, creating the cult classics Perils, Mayhem, and Covert Action (1984-87), part of the Is This What You Were Born For? series screening on November 11 at DiverseWorks. Other productions borrow documentary to poetically envision public space including B/Side (1996) and Surf and Turf (2011), which is part of The Suburban Trilogy, on girlhood and the immigrant dream, screening on November 12. She recently completed Acts and Intermissions, the second in her trilogy on Women and Ideology, circling around the life of Emma Goldman and a history of protests, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight. Acts and Intermissions will close our retrospective on November 13 at Aurora Picture Show.

MICHAEL SICINSKI PRESENTS SPACE IS LIT AND PROTOTYPE

Michael Sicinski writes film criticism for several publications, including Cinema Scope, The Nashville Scene, Cineaste, Cargo, Fandor, and Mubi, and occasionally teaches film and art history at the University of Houston. Sicinski has curated a program of important recent experimental films. Sicinski writes about Space is Lit, which includes films by celebrated film artists Kevin Everson and Jodie Mack, Mark Lewis, and Michael Robinson: “The experimental films in this program are divergent in approach, but all engage with the space before the camera, as well as the place you’re sitting in to watch them.” Sicinski also selected and will host the Prototype screening.

Blake Williams (director of Prototype, a 3D avant-garde film based on the 1900 Galveston flood) was born in Houston, Texas. His video works, such as Depart (2012), Red Capriccio (2014) and Something Horizontal (2015), have been selected internationally, including Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen.

Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas

Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan direct, produce, and edit film and video art projects from their base in Austin, Texas. Their short documentary The Send-Off premiered at Sundance in 2016 and won jury awards at SXSW, AFI Fest, and the San Francisco International Film Festival. Their follow-up short The Rabbit Hunt world-premiered at Sundance in 2017 before competing at the Berlinale, and has won twelve awards, including Best Short Documentary at five Academy-qualifying events. Bresnan and Lucas will present a selection of their new and recent works in our microcinema at DiverseWorks.